May, it was the perfect month of the year. Blue birds cheerfully sang. Trees flourished with bright, yellow flowers in the cramped neighborhood with about ten dark-yellow houses that looked identical. The sun was brightly shining below the perfectly squared park in the middle of the neighborhood. Kids laughed, played, dashed around, and didn’t even stop to take a break in the warm spring day. Flowers were blooming, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The smiles in every single person would have been enough to light up the whole city on that Saturday morning. Every single person in the neighborhood was there, after having an exhausting week, to have a chance to spend time with family members and to have fun under the shadows of the humongous trees that covered the concrete floors and brightly-green colored benches that were present in the whole park.
Meanwhile, I was in my backyard, which had a view of the entire neighborhood, joyfully playing with my dog. He had his fur as soft as a bear’s. His eyes were two bright stars in the sky on top of his slim, golden snout with his black nose that was covered completely in dirt. I had lived 8 years, and four years since I had adopted him. We were thick as thieves, because we depended on each other, and everybody knew it. The morning breeze hit our face while I threw the ball as hard as I could and his short legs and body ran for it and in a second came back. It looked like a perfect day, until the dreadful incident happened.
After an ordinary and indifferently fun day, I got so frustrated with my mom because she was making me clean my room. I didn’t want to do that, because it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon with a dazzling sunset that was perfect for taking Lucas, my dog, for a walk.
“Please mom! I can clean my room tomorrow. I promise I will leave it spotless.” I insisted.
“Sorry, but tomorrow we are going to Grandma’s house.”
“But…but…” I argued, “it is the perfect day for taking Lucas for a walk. It would be perfect if I could just take him for a little while.”
“After you clean your room, Enrique,” she reminded.
“Could I just take him before I clean my room,” I suggested. I started to notice she was becoming impatient about this argument. Her cranky eyes showed anger below her brown eyebrows that pointed at her nose. It looked as if smoke was coming out of her ears and her face was bright red that it showed signs of exploding.
“No. Forget it. Your room is a mess, and you will not be able to leave this house unless you room is sparkling.” It was true; my room was a complete trashcan. But the moment was perfect to relaxingly walk under the rays of sun that were about to say good-bye and the soft breeze that made it an afternoon with a perfect weather.
“But it’s not fair!” I boomed. I headed out of my parent’s room, disgusted. I was too mad to think, so the only thing I thought to do was to talk with my dog.
“You’re the only one that understands me,” I sadly whispered. “I love you so much, you are the best dog in the world. I will never leave you.” I silently told him. I could see deep inside him that he understood me. He nodded his head in agreement and cuddled with me to make me feel good. I couldn’t let this opportunity vanish. I was going to go to take a walk with my dog.
I silently tiptoed downstairs to get my dog’s leash. He tried to follow me, but his footsteps were to loud, so I decided to carry him downstairs with me. Opening the dark-brown wooden door that led directly into the park, I noticed I had forgotten bags to clean up his droppings.
“Don’t get out, Lucas!” I told him, leaving the door partially open. I dashed to the kitchen and stuffed the black bags into my pocket. When I came back, I saw the door completely open. He had gotten out of the house and into the street. In that moment, I thought nothing could happen to him. I was wrong. I looked a few meters away from him in the street and saw a red, spacious car with three teenagers that had the loudest music. They were driving by too quickly.
To them it just felt like a bump, thus they continued laughing and singing. But for me, it was a life-changing moment. My jaw dropped, I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was all just a bad dream, and that I would wake up in any second, and that he would still be there. Tears burst out of my eyes and ran through my cheeks. It was unbelievable that in less than a minute, the bones, muscles and skin of my precious dog would never move again. His fluffy body would never run to get the ball again. His soft fur would never jump up and make me fall again. His joyful soul would never make anybody smile or laugh again. It was shocking and impossible to believe.
“No!” I screamed. My heart stopped. I ran to him as fast as I could to see if I would be able to spend one last moment with him, but I couldn’t. The more I thought about the absence of Lucas, the more I wept. In an instant, my mom came out from the house because she had heard my yelling, but her face showed that she had not expected something this big to happen. Without having a second thought, she grabbed me and took me inside the house again. But I didn’t want to go. I wanted to stay there, no matter what happened, to remember all my moments with him.
I was a statue. I was so shocked I couldn’t move, talk, or think. I was depressed. There was nothing that could make me feel worse. News quickly spread, and as soon as my dad was noticed with the incident, he came back home in a split second. I didn’t know something could hurt so much inside. I held his light body in my hands while everything was blue. My sister, my mom and my dad were around me, doing their best to make me feel better. If I had just cleaned my room, I thought, I could have saved him. But why did I insist so much? Why did this happen to me? Did life do this on purpose? If yes, why? Thoughts revolved my mind over and over again. As if my mom was able to read my thoughts, she lamented:
“It wasn’t your fault, don’t worry. It will all be okay.”
After loosing a liter of water from my body, I was able to calm down for a moment. I sat down in the living room’s house to think. I thought and thought about what might have happened if I had not just left the door open. All those cheerful moments that could have existed just faded away and disappeared in thin air when my dog was gone.
The doorbell rang. It was the veterinarian, to take Lucas to a place where he would be kept forever. My sister answered the door, but the negative energy could be seen in her.
“Hi!” the veterinarian empathized, “How are you all doing?”
“Not so well,” my sister replied, “We are all too sad for our loss, but we hope it all gets better.” I really did. I hoped it would all just be a horrible dream and that I would wake up in any second and say Wow! I hope that never happens. But I had to face reality. In a minute, after their small chat between the veterinarian and my sister, I finally had to let go. It was a moment when I had to accept that I would never see him again, no matter what.
Two months later, in a hot day of summer, my mom brought me a present. I was anxious to see what it was, and when I opened the green, tremendous box, I saw the eyes. The eyes of a beautiful newborn puppy were standing right in front of me. I smiled from ear to ear, because the dog was just like Lucas. Even though the experiences would never be the same, something new never hurt.
“So, what’s his name?” my mom curiously asked.
“Lucas!”
Life. It is a complete gift. This sad incident showed me that in any second, life might change and you may not be the same at all after that. Some teenage boys might drive into your dog, and that might hurt you so much, while they barely felt a bump. Because of this, we need to notice that life might be short, and we have to live it as best as we can, because in any moment, it might not be there anymore. Today, four years later, I do my best to keep moving forward, push my limits, and spend time doing what I love. This impacting story changed me in such a strong way that everyday, when I am struggling and I want to give up, I think of this incident and say to myself: Remember Enrique, you only have one chance to live, and you can’t let anything stop you from living this life in the best way. It surely was a sad event, but in a long-term way of thinking, life gave me this incident so I could learn how I have to do everything I can to achieve my goals and dreams, and to be happy. Just as Mae West said: “You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”